The present invention relates to mineral particles that provide for wellbore fluids with tailorable properties and capabilities, and methods relating thereto.
In the exploration and recovery of hydrocarbons from subterranean formations, a variety of wellbore operations are performed, e.g., drilling operations, cementing operations, and stimulation operations. One physical property of the wellbore fluids used in conjunction with these wellbore operations is density. For example during drilling operations, the density of a wellbore fluid must be carefully controlled so as to exert sufficient pressure to stabilize the walls of the wellbore, e.g., to prevent blowouts, while simultaneously not exerting excess pressure that can cause damage to the surrounding subterranean formation. In another example, the density of spacer fluids and cementing operations must be carefully balanced so as to minimize or prevent mixing of other wellbore fluids on either side of the spacer fluid (e.g., a drilling fluid and a cementing fluid).
Changing the density of wellbore fluids is often achieved with the use of particles (often referred to as weighting agents). One of the most common weighting agent used in the exploration recovery of hydrocarbons has been barite. However, as the exploration and recovery of hydrocarbons expands to subterranean formations with harsher conditions (e.g., extreme temperatures, higher pressures, increased depths, and new lithologies) the complexity of wellbore fluids often increases. Wellbore fluid complexity can lead to negative synergistic effects between wellbore additives, including barite. For example, the combination of barite to increase density and viscosifiers to mitigate particle settling can lead to wellbore fluids with viscosities too high to be pumped efficiently and effectively in a wellbore. Accordingly, there is a need for wellbore additives to serve multiple purposes to minimize the number of different additives in a wellbore fluid so as to mitigate negative synergistic effects with each other.